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THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE JOURNAL VOL. 4 | NO. 2 SPRING 2015 CAN/RAF: The Canadians in theRoyal Air Force By Hugh Halliday n 3 September 1939, only hours after Britain declared war on Germany, a Westland O Wallace biplane of the Royal Air Force (RAF) Air Observer School at Wigtown encountered thick fog and blundered into a Scottish hillside, killing Pilot Officer Ellard Alexander Cummings, 23, of Ottawa and his British gunner. Cummings had been commissioned in the RAF on 7 May 1938. He was a member of an unusual group—Canadians who had enlisted directly in the Royal Air Force (CAN/RAF). He was also the first Canadian to die on active service during the war. E. A. Cummings It is difficult to determine the number of wartime CAN/RAF personnel, in large measure because the definition of “Canadian” is inexact; Canadian citizenship did not exist until 1947. Various authors have been flexible in compiling lists, and even the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Association website naming Canadian Battle of Britain personnel is open to question. Is it fair to name Max Aitken as a Canadian? Although born in Montreal in 1910, he was taken to England as a baby, educated there and spent his entire career (military and commercial) in Britain. If place of birth were the only criteria, then Percival Stanley (Stan) Turner would be British, but his youthful education, upbringing and post-war RCAF service undeniably qualify him as Canadian, notwithstanding membership in the RAF between 1939 and 1945. DND P. S. (Stan) Turner CAN/RAF: The Canadians in the Royal Air Force 21 THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE JOURNAL VOL. 4 | NO. 2 SPRING 2015 DND Boulton-Paul Defiant To demonstrate the intricacies of national origins, consider the following. Richard Howley appeared in a 1974 list as being from Victoria, British Columbia (BC), and the RCAF Association website concurred. Howley was killed in action on 19 July 1940, flying a Boulton-Paul Defiant—a certifiable death trap. The Newfoundland Book of Remembrance recorded him as being from that province; online records of the Commonwealth War Grave Commission did not identify his next of kin. It took an article by Floyd Williston to resolve the matter.1 Howley had been born in 1920 in Esquimalt, BC. However, his father had been born in Newfoundland, and in 1926, the family moved back to the “Rock.” To further complicate the story, the father was receiving medical care for wounds suffered in the Great War as well as a Royal Navy pension. He decided he would receive better care—and live more comfortably—in England; thus, they relocated there in August 1933. So, having lived six years in Canada, seven years in Newfoundland and eight years in England before his death, what shall we call Richard Howley? As one contemplates CAN/RAF personnel, two questions arise. How many were there? How did they get there? Given the complexities of defining “Canadian,” statistics are inexact. In the year 2000, this writer undertook to survey the subject, using varied sources. I came up with the approximations shown Category Number in Table 1. CAN/RAF personnel (all ranks) 1,820 CAN/RAF personnel decorated 422 The statistics require some cau- Killed or died during the war 777 tion. For example, RAF Women’s Transferred to the RCAF 225 Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) per- sonnel transferring to the RCAF Transferred to RCAF Women’s Division 20 Women’s Division might include a Making the RAF a permanent career 55 few British women who had mar- ried RCAF personnel and used the Table 1. CAN/RAF personnel2 transfer method to ensure speedy repatriation with their husbands. The figures do not include approximately 10 Canadians who joined the pre-war Fleet Air Arm. Nor do they encompass persons from Newfoundland—some 740 in all— who are worthy of a separate study.3 Breaking the CAN/RAF personnel down by trade is inexact. Of the 1,820 men and women identified, 1,106 are known to have been aircrew and 361 were in non-flying trades (although 44 of these subsequently remustered to aircrew). That leaves roughly 350 personnel whose trades are uncertain. How they arrived is a complex story. A few had always been present. First World War veterans like John Baker, Herbert Seton Broughall, Raymond Collishaw, Harold Spencer Kerby and Joseph Stewart Temple Fall had made the RAF their permanent careers and through survival, seniority and service rose to senior rank.4 22 CAN/RAF: The Canadians in the Royal Air Force THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE JOURNAL VOL. 4 | NO. 2 SPRING 2015 The RAF Cadet College, established at Cranwell in 1920, opened the way for a new generation. The constitution of the college had been communicated to the Canadian government, via the governor general, on 1 September 1920, together with an expressed hope that Canada would recommend candidates for the college. It was suggested that each self-governing Dominion (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa) would recommend two candidates per year; more limited numbers would be entertained for protectorates and colonies with less autonomy. Curiously, one self-governing entity, Newfoundland, was overlooked. Potential cadets were to be between 17 and 19 years of age, physically fit, unmarried and “of unmixed European descent.”5 The number of candidates allowable from the Empire was subsequently enlarged; as of 1932 it stood at 33 annually, with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Irish Free State, Northern Ireland, Newfoundland and Southern Rhodesia each being allowed four candidates per annum (two per entry) while “other territories” were allowed one yearly Cranwell candidate. It is evident, however, that Air Ministry would have considered it a nightmare had all the Dominions and colonies simultaneously filled their quotas. In 1932, the number of reserved places for colonial cadetships was cut in half.6 Not all who joined stayed. Paul Yettvart Davoud, having graduated from Canada’s Royal Military College and qualified for RCAF wings in 1931, accepted a permanent commission in the RAF. His service must have been exciting, including as it did flying Bristol Bulldogs with No. 17 (Fighter) Squadron at Upavon. Nevertheless, he resigned his commission on 31 March 1935, returning to Canada to become a bush pilot before joining the RCAF in 1940.7 The ascension of Adolph Hitler to power in 1933 soon set alarm bells ringing, from private homes to government ministries. The RAF began to expand, slowly at first, accelerating throughout the decade. The principal sign of this was the number of short-service commissions that were allowed. This coincided with diminished aerial oppor- tunities elsewhere. The RCAF had been cut by one-fifth in 1932, and it was not until 1937 that the Permanent Force experienced any significant growth. The Auxiliary Force took up some of the slack from 1934 onwards, but its units offered little of the glamour and excitement of a professional force. Young Canadians seeking an air-force career looked increasingly towards Britain, and slowly, they began to appear in RAF schools. It is doubtful if many joined out of a sense of political conviction, such as drove the “Mac-Paps” to the Spanish Civil War. The prime motivations were either adventurism or opportunism. In 1935, Alexander Myles Jardine was a 29-year-old merchant mariner who found work irregular and infrequent. The RAF accepted him and launched a Hitler is elected chancellor on 30 January 1933 career that was as harsh as it was productive.8 CAN/RAF: The Canadians in the Royal Air Force 23 THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE JOURNAL VOL. 4 | NO. 2 SPRING 2015 In 1937, David Alexander Willis had applications with both the RAF and the RCMP; the air force responded first.9 Charles Ian Rose Arthur claimed that he just wanted to be a bush pilot and that the RAF seemed to be the most direct route to that goal, yet he must have sensed trouble ahead when he boarded the Athenia for Britain in August 1938.10 Howard Peter Blatchford came from the most air-minded family in Edmonton; his father, as mayor and Member of Parliament, had established the municipal airport and extolled the city as a northern aerial gateway. Nevertheless, the elder Blatchford’s suicide in 1933 may have driven the son to seek a career abroad in 1936. Today we regard flying as commonplace; the most adventurous aviation experience—space flight—is beyond the reach of all but a select few. Eighty years ago it was very different. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh had demonstrated that an individual could perform a great deed. The age of aerial adventure did not begin with him, but it mushroomed thereafter. Air races and global Battle of Britain London Memorial (BBM) Memorial London Britain of Battle flights, aerial explorations from Pole to Pole, altitude records that H. P. Blatchford were made to be broken—all made the news regularly. Flying movies appeared; Wings (1927), Hell’s Angels and The Dawn Patrol (both from 1930) were blockbusters in their day, and the 1938 Test Pilot featured a who’s who of contemporary stars. In Canada, the stories of bush pilots abounded (though their numbers were actually very few). Popular literature spread the word, and although George Drew’s 1930 book Canada’s Fighting Airmen probably did not feed the CAN/RAF ranks, it inspired hundreds to join the RCAF a decade later. We may take the experience of Alfred Llewellyn Bocking of Winnipeg as typical (although his subsequent career was not). It was 1933, and I was proud holder of a brand-new “Commercial Air Pilot’s Certificate – Flying Machines” duly signed by [Squadron Leader] A.

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